This invention relates generally to the field of sports and exercise equipment, and, in particular to a torsion exercise board for improving and developing the strength, coordination and balancing ability of an individual.
Developing a good sense of balance, proprioception and coordination is generally a matter of practice. Many popular sports activities require a user to develop a well developed sense of proprioception or body awareness, including balance, in order to become proficient. For example, sports such as cycling, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding and the like all involve the use of equipment that requires the user to be able to accurately control their position on the equipment. Continuous shifting and adjustment of the user""s weight and centre of gravity with respect to the equipment at appropriate times is vital to proper use of the equipment and full enjoyment of the sport.
In the normal course of growing up, a person must develop an advanced sense of balance and coordination in order to graduate from a baby""s crawling movements to the common walking and running movements of a child or adult. However, once the walking and running movements are mastered, balance, proximity to objects, inertia and rhythm of motion needed for manoeuvring in the everyday world are taken for granted by most people. To a large extent, everyday play of a child develops and refines these skills and perceptions. Common toys and sporting equipment such as bicycles, skateboards and snowboards also allow a person to practice and refine their coordination, strength and balance, for recreation and sports and during rehabilitation following injury.
In order to concentrate on developing these skills, apparatus known as balance or balancing boards have been developed. Prior art boards and other relevant exercise equipment known to the applicant are described in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 842,462 to Grafin
U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,672 to Kazdan
U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,049 to Sasser
U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,189 to Mutius
U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,321 to Gehrke
U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,768 to England
U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,787 to Studebaker
U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,318 to Francke
U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,477 to Wilkinson
U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,469 to Sasser
U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,542 to Hudec
U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,588 to Desjardins
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,823 to Bean
U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,506 to Zubik et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,296 to Davignon
U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,140 to Klippels
Many prior art boards involve a platform that is pivotable about a singe axis. While this arrangement is initially challenging for a beginner, with practice, it becomes relatively easy to master. Alternatively, other balancing board designs rely on a spherical or hemispherical pivot point that permits movement in all directions. Such a design requires a well developed sense of balance to use and it is therefore best suited to an advanced user. Unfortunately, for a beginner, a spherical or hemi-spherical pivot is frustrating to use as consistent balance is difficult to achieve.
A more demanding application involves physical therapy patients who may be unable to even achieve balance on such prior art boards, and thus be unable to benefit from exercise to the torso and foot and leg muscles and joints that might be available to less physically challenged users of such a board.
What is needed is an exercise board that permits pivoting about three, orthogonal axes, permitting both novice and experienced users to engage in a desired level of exercise involving resistance, torsion and recoil, at increasing levels of difficulty. The current invention addresses these needs.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a torsion board comprising a platform for supporting a user, a ground contacting member for maintaining the torsion board generally in a fixed position and orientation with respect to a ground surface, and a resilient interconnecting member mounted between the ground contacting member and the platform. The resilient interconnecting member permits pivoting of the platform about first, second and third orthogonal axes, the first axis being generally coincident with a gravitational axis along which gravitational forces act upon the user.
Preferably, the resilient interconnecting member, the platform and the ground contacting member are dimensioned such that the platform contacts the ground contacting member during the rotation of the platform about the second and the third axis to limit the rotation to a predetermined amount.
Preferably, the resilient interconnecting member is formed from an elastically deformable material. It is preferred that the elastically deformable material is urethane having a hardness in the range of about 50-90 on the Shore Durometer A Scale.
Preferably, the resilient interconnecting member is generally cylindrical, the platform and the ground contacting member being affixed to opposite ends of the interconnecting member.
It is preferred that the resilient interconnecting member is formed with integral mounting flanges at opposite ends to receive fasteners for mounting the resilient interconnecting member to the platform and the ground contacting member.
The interconnecting member can be either a solid cylinder or have a hollow inner core. The shape of the hollow core can be selected to define an interconnecting member with walls of generally uniform thickness or of non-uniform thickness.
In another embodiment of the invention, it is preferred that the resilient interconnecting member comprises at least one coil spring.
The apparatus of the present invention provides a device that can be used for exercise and recreation. As well, the apparatus is useful as a physical therapy and rehabilitation device that permits controlled, varied flexing of body joints.